Compensate workers
A HEALTH and beauty company is facing legal action after unions claimed there was a lack of consultation over the closure of its Tees Valley distribution centre.
AS Watson, the company behind Superdrug and Savers, announced the closure of its Faverdale depot in Darlington, which employed 160 staff, in January.
After a 90-day consultation period with employees at the depot, the site was gradually run down and officially closed in July with only a handful of staff left.
But GMB regional organiser Ian McKenzie is now seeking compensation for employees, over what he describes as a “lack of meaningful consultation”.
He said: “The site is now closed, however, we are still in the process of taking legal action.
“I believe there was a lack of meaningful consultation on the part of the firm, and our lawyers are dealing with that.
“I am hopeful that we can resolve the issue without going to court.
“If we receive any offer or there is any development on the issue, members will be notified and it will be up to them what happens next.”
The closure of the Faverdale depot followed the relocation of Savers’ head offices in Darlington to Croydon with the loss of 83 jobs in October last year.
The company had said at the time there were no plans to close the Darlington depot.
Following the decision to close the depot, staff were given the opportunity to relocate to distribution centres such as Dunstable or Pontefract, complete with a relocation package, or redeploy to high street branches of Savers.
Mr McKenzie said he believed one or two members of staff had accepted the offer to relocate.
Today nobody at AS Watson was available for comment.
Speaking at the time of the announcement in January, a spokeswoman for AS Watson said the opening of a new distribution centre in Dunstable, completed ahead of schedule, had prompted the firm to “further integrate” its distribution network.
The decision to close also coincided with a major investment programme in the opening of 15 new Superdrug stores, and the conversion of 200 of the 424 Savers stores into Superdrug.
The new distribution facility in Dunstable was expected to create a further 500 jobs, with another 150 expected to be created through new store openings.
Speaking at the time of the closure, the group also said it planned to increase the total number of its stores from 1,175 to 1,800 over the next 10 years.
Savers moved to Darlington in 1988.
It was bought out by AS Watson in 2000, which is now part of the Hong-Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa.
